Hey Everyone! I'm baaaaaack!
So this is the long promised prequel series to my Lord of the Rings OC Trilogy. Expect lots of background for our OC and also an introduction to her relationship with Legolas! If you've already read my first trilogy, awesome! but expect to read it again bc after i'm done uploading The Hobbit series, I will be going back through that one and uploading my edits! and there have been A LOT of edits, from grammar to entire story changes!
If you haven't already read my first trilogy, DON'T. As i said earlier, I WILL be editing it A LOT.
Enjoy loves!
The company was making, what Caladwen had assumed, was great haste through Mirkwood, though she could not tell bc the canopy was so thick, even in at midday it was dark as evening. Every few places she would stop, checking the ground with her bow, listening for the sound it made on the stone road, before continuing to lead her party further in.
Despite it's dreary nature, Mirkwood was surprisingly beautiful. It couldn't hold a candle to Lorien, but still, it had its moments. Caladwen remembered what it was like as a child. It seemed much brighter on the Forest Road than it did on this ancient path. Caladwen wondered why they redirected their traffic through these woods. She would have loved this route as a girl.
It wasn't long before the company came upon an old broken bridge. Caladwen paused staring down at the water beneath it quietly as the rest of her party brushed past her clumsily. With a sniff, she watched the dwarves make their way over to the edge of the bridge. Something was off about them, they seemed… Inebriated, almost lost.
"We could try to swim it?" Bofur offered, turning back to Caladwen, but she barely heard him. From the river bed she heard a distinct whisper, again it was the black speech and as she stared into it's dark depths the speech only grew louder.
Come to usssss the river spoke, beckoning her into it's wetness. Caladwen could feel her resolve weaken as she continued to be called. Come to usssss nowwww.
"Caladwen." Thôrin growled, grabbing her shoulder. Caladwen jumped, released from the enchantment of the stream.
"What?" She said rather irritated. He'd scared her, honestly, but not as much as realizing that she'd taken several steps towards the water without realizing it. Thôrin watched her suspiciously, gesturing to the river with his head. It was only then that she realized why they discontinued their use of this road. "This river is bewitched by a powerful magic." She told him, crossing to the bridge's edge. Again the river called out to her, but she would not fall for it's cheap tricks again. "We cannot touch it."
"It doesn't look very enchanted to me." Bofur huffed, earning a sharp look from both Caladwen and Thôrin.
"Believe me when I say it is." Caladwen warned him, studying the bridge quietly. Another dwarf from behind her began to complain, but how do we get across? Caladwen was a step ahead of him, however, and she took several steps back from the river. She could make that jump, she knew she could, and as she stood several feet away, she began to limber up, stretching her knees and shoulders. Beside her, Bilbo began to shake his head, wagging a finger at her for good measure.
"No. No, no, no, don't you even thi-" but before he could finish that thought Caladwen took off. She sprinted towards the bridge at full speed, waiting until she was directly at the edge, using it as leverage to jump over the gap. Just as she thought, Caladwen made the jump easily, somersaulting across the dusty ground as she landed, coming to a graceful stop on her knees.
"That was brilliant." Kíli chuckled from the other side, clapping madly. Bilbo huffed, pinching the bridge of his nose in annoyance.
"Now, how do you expect us to get across?" He asked. Caladwen paused, she hadn't thought that far ahead, and she sheepishly stood checking the shore for a boat of some kind. There was no such luck, but instead she crossed to her left, placing her hand on a series of vines that grew across the banks. She shook the vines, feeling they were sturdy, and grinned at her Hobbit companion.
"Come on then, the lightest goes first." She smirked. Bilbo, looking more terrified now than when she took her jump, began to shake his head, only stopping when Thôrin gave him a grave look.
Resigned to his fate, Bilbo began crossing the river slowly, using the vines for leverage and a bridge. Caladwen stood directly across from him, reaching out across the river while holding on to her own vine.
"Come on, wee Burglar. I've got you." She encourage him as he took a few more unsteady steps. Bilbo glared up at her as the vine swayed under him.
"You know what, I-" Bilbo began, losing his balance. The Hobbit stepped before he'd managed to secure his footing, sending him sprawling towards the river. He'd have dunked himself into the stream below, had he not wrapped his legs around the thick vine.
"Bilbo!" Caladwen called out, concerned.
"I'm fine!" Bilbo shushed her, reaching for another vine and pulling himself to it, back into an upright position. It wasn't until he nearly fell a second time, that Caladwen joined him on the vines herself. "They said one at a time!" He hissed.
"No, they said lightest first. I barely weigh five kilos." She assured him, reaching her hand out for him to take. Bilbo eyed her hand warily and Caladwen waved it at him impatiently. "You will not make it over this gap alone." She told him. Bilbo relented, grabbing her hand and allowing her to pull him over to shore, where she unceremoniously deposited him on the path.
"Something is not right!" He whispered to her. Caladwen frowned at him, crouching beside the Halfling. "I saw something evil in the river, and I'm hearing voices and- and I think we should go back!" He told Caladwen. Caladwen sighed, looking up from the Hobbit on the ground to study the trees around them. Perhaps he was right? Maybe they should turn back?
As Caladwen was turning around to tell the Dwarves to stay where they were, a flurry of movement several paces away caught her eye. Between two large trees, only meters away, Caladwen spied a large white stag. With wide eyes, Caladwen stood, pulling Bilbo to his feet with her.
"What on Earth…" Bilbo started, apparently he saw the stag as well. Beside them, heavy feet landed on the embankment, Thôrin had made his way cross the river. He too watched the stag with suspicious eyes.
"Lothandeneth…" Caladwen whispered, her words catching in her throat.
"What?" Bilbo asked her, not taking his eyes of the stag.
"My mother… She often would appear as a white stag in my dreams…." Caladwen whispered, taking a step forward. The stag did not move, merely watched her with wide eyes. Could this be where… ? She thought, her heart aching as she looked back towards the bridge. Her parents deaths… is that why they stopped using this road so long ago? An arrow zoomed past her cheek, missing the stag by only inches, and Caladwen cried as it ran away fearfully.
"No!" She shouted, turning to Thôrin in shock. Thôrin watched her, confused.
"Tis bad luck to stare down a white coated animal. They are fae kin, beings from another realm." He told her coldly, brushing past her, nearly falling as he did.
"You shouldn't have done that." Bilbo told him gravely, causing Thôrin to stop. He turned to look at the pair slowly, challenging them.
"We make our own luck here." Thôrin said cooly, again turning to walk away. Caladwen took a deep breath, grabbing at her chest, as she watched him go. It ached, and again she looked to where the deer once stood.
Could it have been her? She wondered to herself, before glaring up at Thôrin's back. For a moment she was angry, but she shook that anger off, breathing it away. She knew Thôrin was right, a white creature could only mean one thing; they were treading on very thin ice.
"I need air!"
"My head is spinning…"
"What's happening?" The dwarves complaints came from behind Caladwen for nearly the past hour. She sighed, keeping a watchful eye behind her as often as she could, noting how the dwarves and Halfling seemed to start deteriorating behind her. They devolved into an almost drunken state, stumbling and slurring, save for Thôrin, who was only now showing signs. She seemed to be the only one completely unaffected by the air of Mirkwood. Caladwen frowned, taking her bow and slamming it into the ground at her feet, listening for the familiar sound of stone. Again she banged, but the sound never came, and Thôrin cleared his throat behind her.
"Keep moving, Caladwen. Why have we stopped?" He asked her, causing her heart to flutter in panic. Again she hit the ground.
"The path." She told him quietly, bending over and removing the leaves. Underneath them was nothing but dirt, and she swallowed the distinct sense of fear building in her throat. "It's gone." She told him quietly, turning to look at him.
"What?!" Thôrin hissed, but it was too late, the rest of the company had heard their conversation and they began freaking out accordingly. The dwarves began to panic, running in circles, pacing. Thôrin, tired of their maddened ticks, turned to the group his voice booming:
"Find it! All of you look!" He demanded, scattering the party.
"No! Don't!"Caladwen shouted at them, reaching out for them to come back. The only one who listened was Bilbo, and he staggered over to her, plopping down at her feet.
"Well this is a real mess, huh?" He slurred, looking up at her. Caladwen sighed, glancing around her for a sign, anything, but she did not see the path anywhere. How could it just be gone?!
"This way!" She heard Thôrin shout somewhere to her right. He began to flag down the company, pointing behind him through the trees.
"I think we should go back the way we came!" Caladwen told him.
"No, I know this is the way." He disagreed. Disappearing into the thicket. With her job as navigator gone, Caladwen fell to the back. The Dwarven party all began to stumble past her, following their leader unflinchingly. Caladwen frowned at their backs as Bilbo joined her at her side.
"Well, are we following or what?" He asked her, absentmindedly reaching out and plucking a spider web that was built on the trees of the thicket that the dwarves had just entered. Caladwen smacked his hand, chiding him like a small child.
"Do not touch that." She growled, gesturing to the thicket ahead. "We mustn't split the party." She told Bilbo, who followed the rest of the dwarves.
The dwarves only seemed to deteriorate more as their journey progressed. They were barely able to manage complete sentences, much less navigate the woods around them, and they refused to listen to Caladwen when she offered to once again take point.
Bilbo and Thôrin, who had been faring better than their comrades, we're exhibiting the same signs; confusion, staggered walking, loss of inhibition. Caladwen was now more a babysitter than an adventurer, and this fact was made ever obvious to her when Ori stopped his walking to reach down to the forest floor below. Beside him, his father snatched the pouch, examining it with appropriating eyes.
"A tobacco pouch." He told the class, holding it above his head. "There's dwarves in these woods."
"Dwarves from the Blue Mountains no less!" Bofur chimed in, taking the pouch from him. "This is exactly the same as mine."
"That's because it is yours, you understand?" Caladwen groused, making every dwarf look at her. "We're going around in circles, lost!"
"We are not lost! We keep heading east!" Dwalin argued, gesturing at his back.
"But which way is east? We've lost the sun." Oin informed them. The dwarves began bickering around Caladwen and she groaned, crouching where she stood. Beside her, Bilbo tapped her shoulder, gesturing for the canopy. Through the trees, she could see sunlight.
"I need to go up. I can see where we are from there!" He smiled at her, one that Caladwen returned. The dwarves bickering turned to fighting, and they began pushing and shoving each other around.
"The sooner the better." Caladwen nodded, ushering Bilbo into a tree where she helped him into the branches. Once he was safely climbing, Caladwen turned to deal with her dwarves, pulling them apart and making her way between them.
"Stop! All of you!" Caladwen yelled, the familiar whispering returning to her ears. It swirled around her and she froze, turning to look off into the trees. "I said enough!" She shouted, the dwarves finally stopping to look at her. "We are being watched." She told them, staring off into the trees. The dwarves followed her gaze, just as a several large webs sprang from the tree. They coated the dwarves around her, making them fall to the ground under their heavy, sticky weight.
From behind, several giant spiders entered the clearing, hissing at her menacingly. One lunged for her, but it missed, and she struck that one down with her knife, tossing it's corpse to the side before laying into another. No sooner than she had dealt with the second spider, did a third sneak up behind her, and a piercing pain could be felt at the back of her thigh, like she had been stabbed. Caladwen cried out in pain, turning around to see that the spider had pierced her with it's stinger, and before she could move she was smothered in sticky white web, suffocating her, the closeness of the threads binding her. The web was too strong to fight against and the spider began to twirl her and the rest of the dwarves into cocoons, which they then carried away into the woods.